Will UTLA endorse socialist Bernie Sanders?

By Larry Sand
11/05/2019
The L.A. teachers union may officially support Bernie Sanders for president next week. Back in September, the United Teachers of Los Angeles board of directors began a process to endorse Bernie Sanders for president, and on November 14th there will be a formal vote by the union’s House of Representatives. UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl is...

TAGS: Alex Caputo-Pearl, American Federation of Teachers, Bernie Sanders, Charter schools, education spending, Elizabeth Warren, James Agresti, Just Facts, Larry Sand, Randi Weingarten, socialism, teachers union, United Teachers of Los Angeles

Elizabeth Warren’s “No Teachers Union Left behind” Campaign

By Larry Sand
10/30/2019
Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren used to be a Republican, a Native American and pro-school choice. Now she is a Democrat, a Caucasian and anti-choice teacher union suck-up. As I wrote back in May, the Democratic presidential contenders were battling each other fiercely to score the endorsement of the nation’s teachers unions. The anointment comes with...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Charter Schools Association, Center for Education Reform, Charter schools, Chris Stewart, education spending, Elizabeth Warren, Jeanne Allen, Larry Sand, Myrna Castrejón, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, Thomas Kane

The Great “Awokening”

By Larry Sand
10/22/2019
The U.S. is in the grips of a Godless religious revival. The “Great Awakening” refers to several periods of religious rejuvenation in American Christianity. Historians and theologians have identified three or four waves of increased religiosity occurring between the 18th and 20th centuries. However, the latest version is secular, and its zealots are focusing their...

TAGS: Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union, Walter Williams, White Fragility

SPLC and NEA v. Parents and Kids

By Larry Sand
10/15/2019
The disgraceful Southern Poverty Law Center is now trying to keep poor parents from getting their kids out of awful schools. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which regularly labels organizations whose politics they disagree with as “Hate Groups,” has jumped head-first into the school choice fray. Just a few weeks ago, they began Public Funds...

TAGS: Cato Institute, Education Next, Greg Forster, Kerry McDonald, Kevin Jennings, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Pell Grants, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

The 2020 California Tax Grab

By Larry Sand
10/08/2019
Still a year away, Golden Staters brace for a shoot-out with the tax bandits. Like a bad zombie movie where no one really dies, California’s “split roll property tax” is back. The last time it had a heartbeat was in 2015 via the so-called “Make it Fair” initiative, which was headed for the ballot in...

TAGS: California School Boards Association, California Teachers Association, John Fensterwald, Larry Sand, Measure EE, Mike Antonucci, Prop. 13, Richard Rider, split roll, teachers union

Romanticized fiction trumps facts

By Larry Sand
10/01/2019
A blockbuster report exposes myths about the teaching profession, but will it matter? People love stories, and the gooier and more heart-rending the better. Few are more likely to send readers running for a box of tissues than the tale of a dedicated, but woefully underpaid teacher who is forced to take a second job,...

TAGS: American Enterprise Institute, Andrew Biggs, class-size, Economic Policy Institute, Jason Richwine, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, teacher pay, teachers union

Child abuse: Education establishment style

By Larry Sand
09/24/2019
The true believers in the education world, not climate change, are a major threat to children. When I was seven years old, I had a nightmare about witches, and subsequently became convinced that I had an ugly old hag living in my closet. It wasn’t pleasant, but doing a thorough inspection of my entire bedroom,...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, climate change, global warming, Larry Sand, National Education Association, teachers union

Failing education, lawsuits and parental choice

By Larry Sand
09/17/2019
A literacy lawsuit is due to go to trial in October, but little will change if it is successful. Americans are shockingly weak in civics. The latest Annenberg Public Policy Center survey finds that only 39 percent could name the three branches of U.S. government and less than one-quarter know that Congress has to muster...

TAGS: charter school, education spending, homeschool, Larry Sand, school choice, seniority, Students Matter, teachers union, tenure

Greenlighting classroom disruptions

By Larry Sand
09/10/2019
A new law that bans school suspensions for defiance is on the books in California. Yesterday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 419 into law, which extends the current K-3 ban for suspensions for “defiant and disruptive” behavior to grades 4-8. The law suggests that “restorative justice practices, trauma-informed practices, social and emotional learning, and schoolwide positive...

TAGS: Jason Riley, Larry Sand, Max Eden, Parkland, President Obama, zero tolerance

Teacher union mandates lead to teacher shortages

By Larry Sand
09/03/2019
The unions treatment of teachers as interchangeable parts does great damage to the education process. In my post last week, I gave ample proof that the claim of a nationwide teacher shortage is bogus. For example, in California, where the  teachers unions insist that teachers are “leaving the profession in unprecedented numbers,” there is no widespread...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Eric Heins, Larry Sand, merit pay, teacher shortage, teachers union